In re Metropolitan Transportation Authority

102 A.D.3d 787, 958 N.Y.S.2d 405

This text of 102 A.D.3d 787 (In re Metropolitan Transportation Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 102 A.D.3d 787, 958 N.Y.S.2d 405 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

In a condemnation proceeding, the claimant appeals, as limited by its brief, on the ground of inadequacy, from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Dutchess County (LaCava, J.), dated January 20, 2011, as, upon a decision of the same court entered October 14, 2010, made after a nonjury trial, awarded it the sum of only $65,000 in direct damages and $435,000 in consequential damages, and the condemnor cross-[788]*788appeals, as limited by its brief, on the ground of excessiveness, from so much of the same judgment as awarded the claimant consequential damages in the sum of $435,000.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed insofar as appealed and cross-appealed from, without costs or disbursements.

The claimant in this condemnation proceeding, Washed Aggregate Resources, Inc. (hereinafter Washed Aggregate), owned two parcels of land in the Town of Amenia. The parcels had previously been used as a sand and gravel quarry. Washed Aggregate’s owner, Dominick Peburn, who purchased the assets of Washed Aggregate approximately two months before portions of its property were condemned by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (hereinafter the MTA), intended to recommence mining the land for sand and gravel.

Washed Aggregate’s two parcels, referred to by the parties as “the northern parcel” and “the southern parcel,” respectively, were separated by a third parcel known as “the Luther parcel.” All three parcels were situated between New York State Route 22 (hereinafter Route 22) to the west and Dutchess County Route 81 (hereinafter Route 81) to the east. The southern parcel ran the full width between Routes 22 and 81 and was served by a gravel haul road connecting it to both Routes 22 and 81, which ran approximately along the length of its northern border. The northern parcel bordered Route 81 to the east, but was separated from Route 22 by a small intervening parcel. (The Luther parcel also ran the full width between Routes 22 and 81.) Nevertheless, the northern parcel had access to Route 22 via a road, apparently established by custom, which ran along a portion of its southern border and through the northern portion of the Luther parcel.

In connection with the northern extension of the Metro-North Railroad and the construction of the Metro-North Wassaic station, the MTA condemned strips along the western, i.e., Route 22, edges of both the northern and southern parcels for the purpose of extending its railroad tracks. The MTA offered Washed Aggregate the sum of $37,611 for the condemned portions of both parcels, but offered no compensation for consequential damages arising from the taking of the remaining portions of Washed Aggregate’s land. Washed Aggregate rejected the MTA’s offer, and filed a claim alleging that, as a result of the taking, it had suffered loss, inter alia, of road access to the remainder of both of its parcels and the ability to exploit the land’s gravel deposits.

The MTA commenced the instant condemnation proceeding, and Washed Aggregate’s claim was thereupon evaluated at a [789]*789nonjury trial, at which the primary issues were whether Washed Aggregate retained suitable access to its parcels, whether it was entitled to consequential damages, and, if so, how the value of the land, including its mineral deposits, should be assessed. The Supreme Court awarded Washed Aggregate a greater sum in direct damages than that offered by the MTA, based upon the court’s evaluations of the parties’ competing appraisals. The court also awarded Washed Aggregate consequential damages, based upon its determination that the MTA’s taking had eliminated access suitable for vehicles used in mining, which was the property’s highest and best use. However, the court awarded consequential damages based upon its assessment of the fair market value of the property, rather than, as Washed Aggregate urged, based upon the projected value of the land’s mineral resources. Washed Aggregate appeals, seeking an increase in the court’s consequential damages award, and the MTA cross-appeals, contending that no consequential damages award was warranted. On the appeal and the cross appeal, the controversy centers primarily around the methodology used to determine the value of Washed Aggregate’s land and the question of whether the MTA’s taking resulted in a compensable diminution of access to Washed Aggregate’s land.

When private property is taken for public use, the condemning authority must “compensate the owner ‘so that he may be put in the same relative position, insofar as this is possible, as if the taking had not occurred’ ” (Matter of City of New York [Kaiser Woodcraft Corp.], 11 NY3d 353, 359 [2008], quoting City of Buffalo v Clement Co., 28 NY2d 241, 258 [1971]; see 520 E. 81st St. Assoc. v State of New York, 99 NY2d 43, 47 [2002]; Matter of City of New York [Glantz], 55 NY2d 345, 351 [1982]; Rose v State of New York, 24 NY2d 80, 87 [1969]; Matter of West Bushwick Urban Renewal Area Phase 2, 69 AD3d 176, 181 [2009] ). Where, as here, there is a partial taking of the condemnee’s property, the measure of damages is the difference between the value of the whole before the taking and the value of the remainder after the taking (see Matter of Village of Dobbs Ferry v Stanley Ave. Props., Inc., 95 AD3d 1027, 1029 [2012]; Matter of Board of Commr. of Great Neck Park Dist. of Town of N. Hempstead v Kings Point Hgts., LLC, 74 AD3d 804, 805 [2010] ; Coldiron Fuel Ctr., Ltd. v State of New York, 8 AD3d 779, 780 [2004]; Chemical Corp. v Town of E. Hampton, 298 AD2d 419, 420 [2002]; 627 Smith St. Corp. v Bureau of Waste Disposal of Dept. of Sanitation of City of N.Y., 289 AD2d 472, 473 [2001]). “The measure of damages must reflect the fair market value of the property in its highest and best use on the date of the taking, regardless of whether the property is being [790]*790put to such use at the time” (Matter of Board of Commr. of Great Neck Park Dist. of Town of N. Hempstead v Kings Point Hgts., LLC, 74 AD3d at 805; see Matter of Rochester Urban Renewal Agency [Patchen Post], 45 NY2d 1, 8 [1978]; Keator v State of New York, 23 NY2d 337, 339 [1968]; Matter of Village of Dobbs Ferry v Stanley Ave. Props., Inc., 95 AD3d at 1029; Chemical Corp. v Town of E. Hampton, 298 AD2d at 420; 627 Smith St. Corp. v Bureau of Waste Disposal of Dept.of Sanitation of City of N.Y., 289 AD2d at 473; see also Matter of Saratoga Water Servs. v Saratoga County Water Auth., 83 NY2d 205, 213 [1994]; Arlen of Nanuet v State of New York, 26 NY2d 346, 354 [1970]; Wolfe v State of New York, 22 NY2d 292, 295 [1968]).

A property’s market value is defined as “ ‘the amount which one desiring but not compelled to purchase will pay under ordinary conditions to a seller who desires but is not compelled to sell’ ” (936 Second Ave. L.P. v Second Corporate Dev. Co., Inc., 10 NY3d 628, 632 [2008], quoting Plaza Hotel Assoc. v Wellington Assoc., 37 NY2d 273, 277 [1975]; see W.T. Grant Co. v Srogi, 52 NY2d 496, 510 [1981]; Matter of Rochester Urban Renewal Agency [Patchen Post], 45 NY2d at 8). “[T]he purchase price set in the course of an arm’s length transaction of recent vintage, if not explained away as abnormal in any fashion, is evidence of the ‘highest rank’ to determine the true value of the property at that time” (Plaza Hotel Assoc. v Wellington Assoc., 37 NY2d at 277, quoting Matter of F. W. Woolworth Co. v Tax Commn. of City of N.Y., 20 NY2d 561, 565 [1967]; see W.T. Grant Co. v Srogi, 52 NY2d at 511;

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Bluebook (online)
102 A.D.3d 787, 958 N.Y.S.2d 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-metropolitan-transportation-authority-nyappdiv-2013.